Hindu leader arrested for role in anti-Christian violence
January 13, 2011
Hindu leader Swami Aseemananda-- who shot into limelight by spearheading the orchestrated anti-Christian violence that rocked the Indian state of Gujarat during the Christmas season in 1998—has been arrested and charged with involvement in a sensational bombing. The detention in the new case followed his confession of organizing the 2007 bomb blast in the 'friendship' train between India and Pakistan that claimed 68 lives - most of them Pakistanis. Since his arrest in last November, the Hindu monk had owned up to three other major bomb blasts at Malegaon, Hyderabad and Ajmer that have claimed dozens of lives during 2006-2007. These bombings had previously been attributed to Islamic groups. During Christmas in 1998, more than three dozen churches were torched in the tribal region of Gujarat. The orchestrated anti-Christian violence followed a massive convention of Hindu groups the controversial Hindu leader had organized in the region for the 'homecoming’ of tribal Christians back to the Hindu fold.
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